It was a very frustrated Clark who opened the kitchen door to find Lois and his mom at the counter, sharing some laughter, as Lois took a rolling pin to a glob of dough.

"Smallville!" Lois turned, and he caught himself and quickly smiled at her. "You'll never guess what I'm making!" Before he could hazard that guess, she answered for him. "Chicken and dumplings. It's really not that hard either!" She sounded pleased with herself and Martha began laughing again. "And guess what else?"

"Let's see…" Clark sniffed the air, "could it be…apple pie?"

"Bingo! How's that for learning to cook!" The sheer joy on her face faded momentarily as she caught sight of something in his eyes that his own mother didn't see. "Mrs. K., you mind if I take a break and uh…" she hesitated and looked toward Clark as if to make a point.

"No, of course not, Lois. You two go ahead." Then it was Martha's turn to look closely at her son's face. Yes. Something was wrong and Lois had seen it before she had. "I'll just add a bit of water to the broth to delay everything."

Lois shoved a reluctant Clark back out the door and onto the porch before he stopped and warned her, "Just a minute. Let me check…" With that, he scanned all around the perimeter of the farm, looking for anyone that might see Lois and become aware of just how very undead she really was. "It's clear," he finally said, and immediately he felt himself being pulled toward the barn.

Once inside, Lois turned to him, not even bothering to climb the stairs to his favorite spot. Something was wrong and she wanted to know what it was now, not two minutes from now.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"It's kind of hard to know where to begin." He ran a hand through his hair and she waited. "I went to the Planet as Superman and talked to Perry. Your source, the boyfriend, Gary? The guy you're so sure is innocent? He told his lawyer this morning that he wants to plead out. He wants to confess to his girlfriend's murder."

"What?!" Lois was stunned.

Clark raised a hand so she'd hold off her questions. "That's not all. I then went to the jail, only to find that his lawyer has stipulated that no one, and apparently that even applies to Superman, is to talk to him." Lois made a squeaking sound and he held up a hand again to stop her. "I thought I'd check on Benson while I was there. Well, Benson was not in his cell."

"Did you—?"

"Of course I asked where he was. And then I found out that everyone, and I do mean everyone, right down to the guy mopping the floors, could see him in the cell. They thought he was there sitting on his cot. Yet he wasn't."

Lois' mouth dropped open at that. "Meteor freak lawyer strikes again?"

"Obviously. I spent the better part of an hour convincing everyone that they weren't seeing what they thought they were seeing, and that a prisoner was missing. I don't think anyone but Superman would have been able to convince them either. Thankfully, their belief that he would not lie to them counteracted the strong messages their brains were sending to their eyes."

Lois looked around nervously. "So he's out there again?"

"No! No, you don't have to worry about him anymore. I did a search from the air. I found him…at the bottom of Grell Lake. Kind of ironic really. The same place he disposed of the girl's body."

"Benson's dead?" Lois couldn't believe it.

"You know, saving people, kind of fun. Finding dead bodies, not so much."

"Oh, Clark." Standing on tip toe to reach up to him, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and held him.

"I should be relieved," he whispered into her hair. "He tried to kill you. He was cruel, heartless—"

"But you're you." Her own voice was a whisper. She was talking to his heart, for that was what had just suffered a blow. "You only see two kinds of people - the ones you can save and the ones you can't. I'm so sorry."

She held him while his emotions calmed, only pulling back when she knew he had siphoned enough of her strength to speak again.

"You do know me better than anyone."

"You better believe it, Smallville," she said as she socked him in the shoulder and smiled. When he didn't return her smile, she continued a little cautiously. "What about Grange? Looks like he's more dangerous than Benson ever was."

"I know where he is. I asked the police to keep the discovery of the body quiet for twenty-four hours so I can figure out how best to bring him in."

"Clark, no. Don't. What if he…"

"I know. When I saw the level of mass hallucination he was able to induce, I knew I couldn't just go in and…" He breathed out heavily. "I do have one idea, but it means I'll have to be gone most of tomorrow. I don't like leaving you alone right now. I may ask Oliver to—"

"I don't need a baby sitter, Smallville. You do what you have to, but just don't go in there unless you really can protect yourself from this guy." Then an idea occurred to her. "What about Oliver taking him out with one of those arrows that knock people out? The guy can't hypnotize people if he's unconscious!"

"Lois, I'll handle it. I want to do this legally too. I'm not sure using any kind of force is a good idea in the actual arrest. He's a lawyer with a lot of lawyer friends. I don't want him getting out on some technicality because I did something stupid."

Then she frowned. "That isn't all, is it?"

"Well, just one other …thing. After today, it probably won't be that bad."

"What?" she said impatiently.

"The good doctors want me to do a little grave robbing."

"What?" she asked sharply.

"They want to experiment with blue Kryptonite. Although they claim it can't really be truly Kryptonite by definition, because it was the pieces of the planet that changed to that when the chain reaction happened that destroyed the—"

"Smallville," she cut in, "back up there. Blue Kryptonite? That's the kind that takes away your powers, right? Why would they want to—" She started shaking her head. "No, absolutely not! I don't want you going anywhere near any blue Kryptonite. You said you couldn't get that ring off your finger. You have no idea just how much it would affect you, or if you could get away from it once it started to. No. No way. That is out of the question." And she started walking back toward the house as if the matter were settled.

"Lois, they're only trying to find out if—"

"I don't care if they're curing cancer. They're not doing it by using you as a guinea pig. I know these tests were my idea, but it seems to me that they're getting a little out of hand. You're finished with them, do you hear?"

She was standing there pointing at him like he was a little boy who'd done something terribly wrong. Suddenly, the whole thing was just endearing and funny, and he broke out laughing. "Oh, Lois, you are so…look, there actually was some good news today."

"Good news?" She looked at him suspiciously. "Planning on laying that on me anytime soon, Smallville?"

"Dr. Kline said that it was possible," he stressed the word carefully, "that we would be able—"

She launched herself into his arms before he could complete the sentence, jumping up to wrap her legs around his waist.

"Lois!" He was sputtering between the breathtaking kisses she was giving him. "Waitaminute! Lois!"

The kisses continued and he was having a hard time not allowing himself to enjoy them, but she didn't understand. "Lois…you didn't…let…me…finish!" He pulled her away then, depositing her back on her feet at arm's length away from him.

"But you said—"

"No, you didn't let me. Just hold on here. I was about to say, that it's maybe possible for Kryptonian DNA to combine with human DNA." He saw the hope spring into her eyes and added quickly, and firmly, "But the …uh…stuff…that it takes to get to that point…well, they haven't really figured out if that's safe yet or not."

"Clark," she said, nodding her head, "you…you have a very twisted idea of what constitutes 'good news'!" She turned and started toward the house once more. After only a few steps, she turned back again. "I, for one, am glad the menu tonight is made up of the ultimate comfort food. I think I need it. Come on, let's eat."